Donors Choose and ELMER

I have shared that I am a big fan of Donors Choose (donorschoose.org). If you do not know who/what they do, I would love to tell you! A teacher can create a project of items that they need/want for their classroom...then, donors (family, friends and people you do not know) can donate to your project! When your project is funded, Donors Choose will place the order and ship it to you! Then, your final step is to take pictures, write an impact letter, and send thank you letters from your students! What a great idea!

My last project was titled "Read and Re-tell." I received a variety of books and manipulatives to make the stories come alive! Little did I know that we could do so much with the stories.

This week, we focused on the story Elmer. Here is the stuff that came with my project:

 

I purchased the book (this is the picture from Amazon) as well as the collection of Elephants from the story. The blue felt board that the elephants are on, I already had in my classroom. If you do not have one, you could purchase one, or you could make one...cheaper and easier! On a side note, I had never read the story of Elmer, but now that I have, I am completely in love with the message!

 Throughout the week, we read the story, both in large group and small group. Students use the elephant props to retell the story! They get to manipulate the pieces, create the elephants, and play with the elephants. In the above picture, one of my students is matching the decorated elephant to the body (working on matching sizes).

Since basic concepts are difficult for some of my students, we used the Elmer elephants to work on the concept BIG and small! This is one of my students working on big and small!

Now that we have spent a week on this book, students will have the opportunity to explore the Elmer elephants on their own!